Youth
by batarangbecks
Summary: Luthorcorp has a new intern, and Oliver is determined to ensure that she doesn't take after the company's inscrutable tendencies, not to mention the tendencies of a certain redhead ex-girlfriend. Part one of a three part episodic arc.
1. Chapter 1

Naturally, I own nothing.

Summary: (part one of a three part "episodic" arc) Luthorcorp has a new intern, and Oliver makes it his mission to make sure that she's not corrupted by the company's natural tendencies, and more specifically, Tess'.

AU Season 9, mostly Tollie

It had been a long day for Oliver Queen. He had been lucky for the last few weeks, being able to dodge his responsibilities in favor of his extra-curricular activities. But time, or rather an insistent Tess, had caught up with him. Three board meetings in one day was not a task to be repeated by someone with a better grip on their sanity.

"Alright, well, if you could call me back with that information, I would appreciate it." Oliver leaned on his desk and tried not to sigh out loud. He would have taken any number of tights jokes over this drivel. "Yes, talk to you soon. Uh huh, bye."

Now Oliver sighed openly and loudly. Turning away from the windows behind him, his heart jumped to his throat and then immediately fell to his toes. It was by sheer luck that he didn't actually scream at the sight of the petite red-headed teenager that had appeared in his office during the three minutes he had had his back turned. She jumped herself, and her eyes widened.

"I am so sorry, Mr. Queen!" She was blushing now and had a white knuckle death grip on the laptop against her chest.

"What the hell, kid?" Oliver steadied himself on his desk, trying not to show just how hard she had rattled him. "How did you get in here?"

The young woman blinked rapidly, obviously confused. "Um, you buzzed me up." She looked like the deer that was too fascinated by the bright lights to get out of the way of the incoming car. She pointed down at where Oliver's right hand was resting on the desk, and he followed her gaze to see that it was on top of the intercom.

"Of course I did." He straightened his jacket and walked to the front of his desk. "What can I do for you? I thought the school tours were over for the year." He flashed a watered-down version of his paparazzi grin, although he wasn't sure why he was trying so hard to charm some high school overachiever.

Whatever charm he was using, it certainly wasn't working if the look she shot his way was any indication. "I've graduated, actually." She extended her hand, keeping her gaze locked on Oliver. "I'm Annabeth Williams, the new intern. But call me Annie." Oliver found it odd that she didn't tack on the usual "everybody does" excuse. She was informing him of how he was to refer to her rather than offering more casual terms to their relationship. It was scary considering he still didn't believe that she could be eighteen. But she obviously didn't care what he thought of it, because she pulled her hand away as soon as they shook and there was no mistaking the down-to-business look in her eye.

"Ms. Mercer sent me over to confirm your attendance at the meet and greet tonight." Annie looked down at a legal pad on top of the laptop, absentmindedly pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "If I were you, I wouldn't say no."

"Well, you can tell Tess that …" Before the sentence got out of his mouth, everything the runt had said hit home. "Since when does Tess have an errand girl?"

Even when it was a thought, he knew it was stupid. But that was getting to be his reputation: he thought before he spoke but then said the wrong thing anyway. The look Annie shot him would probably have killed plant life. She shifted her weight onto one leg, the cocked hip adding to her no-nonsense attitude. Her eyes momentarily moved down to his desk again, and whatever she saw resulted in a less-than-subtle eye roll. "Is this the first time you've even seen your desk or what?"

Oliver did his best to appear offended, but the truth was that it had been a long time since he had taken the time to go through the papers stacking up on his workspace. Looking down, he noticed the corner of a pink "while you were out" slip sticking out of a file folder. Patiently extracting it without causing injury to himself, he scanned the note.

"An intern, huh?" He said after deciphering his dutiful secretary's unintelligible scrawl. "Tell me, does Tess think she runs the company by herself or am I missing something?"

"Do you really want me to answer that considering that phone call happened three weeks ago?" Annie used a ballpoint pen to point to the memo in his hand. "Now, will you be there or not? I have other things I could be doing."

"You just tell Tess what she wants to hear, alright?" It was his usual excuse. He didn't believe it, he knew for certain that Tess didn't believe it, and from the way she raised her eyebrows, he knew that Annie was on that list as well.

"Alright, but it's your funeral." She turned to go, but Oliver wasn't finished. He didn't really care that Tess had brought on an intern without talking to him. Hell, she ran the company without talking to him. But this girl intrigued him. Maybe it was her brusqueness, maybe it was just a natural curiosity. Something got him out from behind his desk fast enough to grab her arm and prevent her from getting away so easily.

"Hey, come on." He had the smile on again, and there was some actual emotion behind it this time. "You've got to have a couple of minutes. Trust me, she won't kill you on the first day."

Annie looked far from happy as she shook his hand off. "I've been here a week. This is just the first time I've had the …" she paused and looked him up and down, "_pleasure_of having to work with you." She glanced at the door and back at Oliver. "But I suppose I don't have to leave right now."

"Fantastic." Oliver collapsed into one of the armchairs in front of his desk. "Pull up a chair. Don't spare the gory details."

"I'll stand, thank you." She insisted, crossing her arms over the laptop and legal pad.

"Alright, so we won't make it fun." Oliver put his hands behind his head and propped his feet up on the desk. "So do I have to call you Annie or do I get some choice here?"

"You have to." Her expression never wavered. "I haven't gone by Annabeth since I was six. Unless you're my parents, but that's how it always works, isn't it?"

"What if I like Annabeth better?" He was pushing it, his favorite pastime.

"I'm leaving now." She started to turn around again.

"What? That's nothing. I don't even know if that's your real name."

He didn't move to stop her; she turned around of her own accord. "You want to know about me? Fine, listen up, rich boy." She leaned down, her eyes drilling into his. "I live in Rhode Island with my parents whom I hate and my older sister whom I tolerate. I'm here for the summer before I go to some fancy school for a business degree. You annoy me already." Standing up straight again, she plastered a pageant-esque smile on her face. "Have a nice day, Mr. Queen."

With that, she was out of his office. But Oliver Queen could already tell that Annie Williams wasn't going to be far from his mind. He also decided it was time that he and Tess had a talk, one that hopefully didn't result in bodily harm for him.

Good luck on that one.


	2. Chapter 2

Naturally, I own nothing.

Against all odds, Tess Mercer was having a fairly good week. She attributed this to the arrival of Luthorcorp's latest attempt to prove it wasn't the bad guy in the fairy tale. Annie was definitely a point in their favour, having practically stepped off the plane asking what she needed to do. She reminded Tess all too much of the way she herself had taken her first steps into the world of business. Most every night since Annie's arrival, Tess had been the one to cut her off and send her home. If the young intern had her way, she would be working all night.

At the moment, Annie was doing some courier work, so Tess was making phone calls for the first time all week. "I'm certain we'll be speaking again." She spoke while simultaneously shoving various papers into various folders. "Yes, send that directly to me." In the momentary chaos, her stapler bit the dust, clattering against the hardwood. Tess bent over to rescue it, the phone still pressed against her ear. "M-E-R-C-E-R. Yes, sir. Thank you very much." Pressing END, Tess grabbed the stapler and sat up straight.

She promptly dropped the stapler again when she noticed Oliver had appeared in front of her desk. He, as per usual, seemed unaffected by the dirty look she threw his way. She hung up the phone and returned to her work, not giving him the satisfaction of acknowledging her still pounding heart.

Naturally, he couldn't or wouldn't take the hint. "That's a real pleasant lackey you've hired, Mercy." Tess almost visibly cringed. Why he insisted on pulling that god forsaken pet name out of the past was beyond her. In every sense of the phrase, Oliver Queen was beyond her.

"Just because, on paper, Annie works for you, Oliver, doesn't mean she has to like you." Tess allowed her eyes a once over of her business partner. "Goodness knows I can see where she's coming from," she added, only halfway under her breath.

"Didn't you learn anything from being Lex's prodigy?" Oliver quipped.

"She accepted the position with full knowledge of the company's less than perfect history, Oliver." Now Tess stood and walked to the mini fridge tucked away in the corner of her office. Extracting a bottle of water, Tess turned and gave a half smile. "I really think she can handle herself."

Personally, she was curious as to why Oliver cared in the first place. Last she'd checked, he was "happy" in his relationship with Chloe Sullivan. Why was he sniffing around an employee straight out of high school? Fortunately, Tess had given up trying to make sense of Oliver a long time ago.

"Tess, I've seen how this company changed you." Oliver's face was stoic. He walked towards her, stopping within two inches of her face. She tried not to let herself remember how her heart used to feel when he would come so close. "I'm trying to keep history from repeating itself."

His tone was starting to give Tess a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had playfully warned Annie about Oliver's cavalier attitude and tendency to hit on anything that moved. She'd inconveniently forgotten about his unpredictable dark side.

"You've met her once, Oliver." Tess heard footsteps coming up the hallway and realized, in the name of etiquette, this conversation had to end. "How about you give it another shot?" She stepped to the side and, taking one step forward, leaned into him, strands of her hair brushing against his jaw. "For me?" she whispered. She raised her eyes and he lowered his. Tess felt her heart skip a beat. She moved quickly towards the door, eager to escape the suffocating blanket of nostalgia that never failed to creep in when she was around him.

Fortunately, a distraction made her subtle entrance, striding towards Tess with her fingers flying over the keyboard on her BlackBerry. She either didn't see Oliver or chose to ignore him. "Unless you need something, Ms. Mercer, I'm going to relieve your assistant at the Planet." When she was done speaking, she looked over at Oliver. Her eyes narrowed, indicating that she hadn't seen him until that moment.

"Hey, Annie." Oliver said, attempting to sound cordial.

Annie gave him a curt nod and a muttered "Mr. Queen" in response.

"Well, that sounds like my cue." He turned to Tess, who picked up on the question in his eyes. "See you at the party, Tess." With that, he left.

It was Annie who broke the momentary awkward silence that followed. "I don't care for him." She muttered, shrugging almost apologetically.

Tess smiled. "You can trust me when I say that Oliver Queen is an acquired taste."

Annie chuckled at that. "If it was up to me, I wouldn't be going back for seconds."


	3. Chapter 3

Naturally, I own nothing.

Unfortunately, when one spends her days around more computers than people, the ability to pick up on subtle hints becomes dulled. But Chloe knew right away, just from the way Oliver actually shut the door instead of leaving it wide open, that he was focused on something outside of Watchtower.

Chloe turned from her current station and smiled at him, trying not to react to the thoughtful scowl on his face. "Well, looks like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the riches this morning."

The usual snark appeared to go right over her boyfriend's head, as he said nothing, merely passed by her with a kiss on the cheek. Chloe turned again to face him.

"Earth to the Emerald Archer." Chloe moved closer to him, her eyes transitioning from playful to concerned.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Chloe." Oliver stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and shrugged his shoulders. "Work's just been riding me the last couple of days."

Relieved by the sound of his voice, Chloe allowed herself a quiet laugh. "Considering how much time you spend doing your actual paying job, you're probably just out of practice." She resumed her work at the keyboard, confident that whatever Oliver was thinking about was not a matter of planetary life or death.

He hung on the side of one of her free-standing monitors. Chloe could tell that he needed to vent, and the last thing she wanted was someone as volatile as Oliver keeping anything bottled up. "Are you going to tell me what's bothering Your Highness?" She kept her eyes on the screen to keep her from appearing _too_concerned.

Oliver shifted again, his hands back into his pockets. "Tess has got this fresh young thing doing her bidding now."

Chloe shot him a sideways look, her eyebrows raised. "That's quite the title for someone I presume you have only just met." She wasn't sure that she liked her boyfriend calling anyone a "fresh young thing". But she decided to keep her own opinions away from the conversation. With Oliver, it was easy to take a step forward for granted and send him two miles back.

He shifted his stance before answering, rolling his shoulders and exhaling sharply through his nose. "You know Tess, Chloe. She's the last person I would want my kid associating with."

"No offense, Oliver," Chloe muttered in the midst of a keystroke, "but you've never shown much interest in the safety of every person who associates with Tess."

"Well, the great majority of them know what mess they're dealing with." Oliver was getting worked up now, and Chloe thought it best to give him her full attention. "She's spent her life halfway across the country."

Chloe weighed options for a moment. Most of her wanted to push harder. This didn't seem like the sort of thing that Oliver normally worried about for more than a fleeting though wave. But rationally, she knew that his was not a personality that was known for coping with pressure, at least not lately.

But Chloe Sullivan was not afraid of Oliver Queen. So her proverbial safety protocols cooled, and she probed a bit deeper.

"Oliver, I'm not disagreeing with you. I've seen more than one good soul warped by the Luthor name." Chloe moved away from the computer station and closer to him, wrapping her arms around his torso. "But was I right? You just met this girl?"

Oliver didn't answer. He didn't really have to.

She rested the side of her head against his chest for a split second before straightening back up, at the same time pulling away. "Don't blow this out of proportion, Ollie. Give this 'fresh young thing' a chance to prove herself." Just from the sound of the phrase to her own ears, Chloe hoped that she wouldn't have to have this conversation again, or would at least have a name to work with next time.

Oliver laughed, a light sound in the back of his throat. "Tess said the same thing."

"Were you going to listen to her?"

"I'd rather say that I listened to you."

Now Chloe laughed. That sounded more like him.

"I'd better go." He said, quickly kissing her on the lips. "Apparently there's a party tonight."

"Need a plus one?"

"No, I can't imagine that I will be there long." He said this as he walked towards the door. He ducked out without another word, but as Chloe turned back to her work, she heard the door open again.

"Thanks, Chlo."

She didn't turn around, so he didn't see her smile. "Just doing my job."


	4. Chapter 4

Naturally, I own nothing.

* * *

Over the years, Oliver had learned to tune out a great many things, and it seemed that he would have to encounter all of them before getting one foot in the door of the Ace of Clubs. The flashbulbs were alive and well, moving only faster than the questions and demands being thrown at him by the people hidden behind the bursts of light and their recorders. Tuning out for Oliver, however, didn't mean pushing them aside. No, he had a certain reputation to uphold and he had just as many years to figure out how to do that job extremely well. So he posed for the camera, shrugged off the inquiries as to who the lovely young lady was that he had brought with him this evening, and shot a smile in any direction he could. He'd gone with the tried and true undone bowtie lying on his chest and passing on a suit jacket, so they wanted to know everything about that, too. It seemed to take him and his date, who was mostly just a decoy that wanted the chance to mingle with the big names and was willing to be completely ignored by her "date" in order to do so, hours to get through the front doors and into the lounge, where the noise level was significantly lower but the denizens were only slightly more tolerable. Oliver barely felt her arm slide out of his. He was already looking for someone else.

A Luthorcorp party tended to attract more than just the averag business type. There were the socialites, constantly being gossiped about by the wannabes like his date. They were usually on the hips of the politicians who wanted to pretend that they had a hand in everything but the kitchen sinks of Metropolis. Oliver really only recognized the faces because he had been forced to make a habit of frequenting such venues. He was lucky when he could remember a name when called on it. Hopefully his mission tonight would not require him to speak to any of these other faces.

Just as he was starting to think he had gotten all fixed up in vain, he caught sight of her.

While her outfit that morning had not exactly been casual, he had to admit that she looked so remarkably older with a little formality thrown into the equation. Her white dress was a lace cutout from just below her collarbone to her shoulders, pulled together with a black satin sash and the bow his own outfit was lacking. The flame red tendrils that had been cascading in front of her eyes that morning were now pulled back in a distressed knot at the base of her skull that was accented by a pair of purple and white roses, revealing a pair of glittering earrings and a basic black necklace. Oliver found himself to be unexpectedly set off his guard. This did not look like a girl that was only a year out of high school. The way she carried herself and how she managed to hide everything behind eyes that could look both interested and fascinated, it showed that she already knew how to work a room. Oliver tried to tell himself that she had learned it on her own and that Tess wasn't rubbing off on her this quickly.

At the moment, Annie seemed to be deep in conversation, or at least putting on a good show in that regard, with an elderly man who was no doubt either a financier or an ex-member of the trustee board who was kept around because his face meant more than his opinion. Her heels made her ever so slightly taller than him for the moment, but that didn't seem to be stopping him from edging closer and closer the more they spoke. Oliver decided to validate his lapse in social graces by insisting that he was getting her out of a relationshp she couldn't possibly enjoy for much longer.

"What do you say we get some fresh air?" Oliver didn't try and hide his approach, coming up beside Annie and clapping his hand down on her shoulder. This solicited a look of confusion from her current conversational partner and a look of distinct but subtle fury on the part of his target.

"I'm busy, Mr. Queen." Annie hissed back, not taking her eyes off of the older man.

"Too busy for me? I know that neither you nor Tess like me all that well, but I still like to think that I can pull a certain degree of weight around here."

"I'm not afraid of you or anything you might say. Patience is a virtue, Mr. Queen."

"Come on, humor me."

Annie sighed, apparently coming to the realization that the only way to get him to stop talking to her was to allow him to say whatever it was he wanted. "You'll have to excuse me, sir. It seems that Mr. Queen has pressing mattersw to which I simply must attend." The older man simply shrugged and moved on to the next available female. Annie wasted no time in striding towards the open doors that led to one of the chrome balconies.

The slight breeze made waves in her skirt as she leaned on the rail, perhaps hoping that her focus on the skyline would dissuade him. It was clear that she had a great deal to learn about how he operated.

"You don't think it's a little cold for that outfit?" he asked, leaning on the rail next to her.

She didn't look at him when she answered. "It gets worse back home. You learn to work through it."

"You'll have to refresh my memory as to where home is." It was a blantant lie, and he was almost positive that she saw right through it.

But if she did, she didn't want to call him on it. "Tell your short attention span that it's Rhode Island." Now she turned to look at him, cocking her head to the side. "Coastal breezes, wouldn't you know?"

Oliver laughed, hoping to relieve the tension that was getting to be a bit stifling even for his tastes. "So it was a good life of lobsters and skinny dipping, right?"

Annie tilted her head again, smiling as though she was speaking to a small child. "I'm allergic to shellfish, actually, but thanks for playing."

Now Oliver really had to laugh, perhaps from the sheer blindside of the notion. "Please tell me you didn't have to live your whole life in one of the fish capitals of America with that particular hang-up."

"I'm afraid so, Captain 20 Questions." Annie rotated so that her back was leaning on the rail and crossed her arms over her chest. "Now, what was it that you were so desperate to tell me, Mr. Queen?"

"Besides reminding you that I asked you not to call me that?"

Annie's face lost a bit of its newfound joviality. "You're my boss, much as I hate to admit it. If it helps, Miss Mercer has been telling me the same thing for the past week and I haven't heeded her advice either."

Oliver saw his opportunity and went for it. "Speaking of that particular redheaded devil..."

"No."

Oliver almost choked on his next words and tried not to appear too stunned at his speech getting unceremoniously cut off. "I'm sorry?"

"I know where you're going with this, Mr. Queen, and I don't want to hear it from you, just like I didn't want to hear it from my conspiracy theorist second cousin or my 'I'm looking out for your best interests' vice principal."

"Okay, now you've really lost me."

Annie sighed, obviously not looking forward to having to explain it further. "You don't think that I just took this job without doing my homework, do you, Mr. Queen? Trust me, I spent a lot of time using and abusing the public librarian and several variations of several Google search terms ensuring that I came here knowing what I was getting myself into. I'm not an idiot and I'm not a child."

"Hey now, I was never going to insinuate that you were either. Can you let me finish?"

"I would prefer not to because I am entirely certain I know exactly what case you are fruitlessly attempt to make."

"Really?" Oliver pushed away from the rail and moved to stand in front of her. "Enlighten me."

"You're going to tell me that Luthocorp is bad people, that I'm risking everything by even being here as I have been. Well, news flash, Mr. Queen, everybody knows. You're not revealing anything. All you're doing is trying to push what you see as God given facts on me with no basis other than your own judgments." As she spoke, Annie moved forward, getting close enough that she was very nearly standing on the toes of his shoes. "Although do let me say that you have lived up to every single one of your rumors. Congratulations."

Oliver thought about shooting something back. "So you're not going to listen to me even if I tried?"

Annie smiled, realizing what she mistook for victory. "Not even a little. Good night, Mr. Queen."

_AN: Not quite what I had hoped for but I'm glad to get another chapter up. R&R if you please!_


End file.
